World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Nomura Investor To Open Fund

By Alan Cowell (NYT)

Published: November 10, 2001

Guy Hands, a wealthy British private-equity specialist, is negotiating his departure from Nomura Holdings of Japan to establish a separate fund called Terra Firma Capital Partners, people close to the discussions said. Mr. Hands will take 70 members of his team with him, and the deal is expected to be completed by March of next year. Mr. Hands, 41, has invested some $16 billion since 1995 when he joined Nomura, Japan's biggest securities company, after working for Goldman Sachs. In that period he made Nomura, Europe's leading private-equity investor, into Britain's biggest pub landlord and bought luxury hotels and German real estate. Nomura will invest in the new fund, for which Mr. Hands wants to raise $2.7 billion, the people close to the discussions said, adding that the details of the arrangement were still being negotiated. Alan Cowell (NYT)